A brother of the man who inherited Francis Bacon’s estate sold £1m of fake
drawings purportedly by the artist, a judge has ruled.

A judge at London’s Appeal Court has rejected a bid to bring forward fresh evidence that the sketches are “authentic”.

John Edwards, who was Bacon’s close friend and inherited his entire estate, died in 2003.

Four years later, his brother, David Edwards, sold a collection of six drawings he claimed to be by Bacon for £1m, and several months later sold a further six for £300,000.

But when the buyers then showed the drawings to the Francis Bacon Authentication Committee in October 2007, they were told the style was “inconsistent with all the sketches and paintings currently attributed to Bacon".

Martin Harrison, chair of the committee and eminent Bacon scholar, said the drawings were "fakes", consistent "in every way" with the style of other copies. The value of the paintings was put at just over £480.

David Edwards, who was friends with Bacon when the artist was alive, was left bankrupt in 2009 from legal action brought by buyers.

Brothers John and David Edwards (Albanpix)

After it emerged that Mr Edwards had passed £425,000 to his boyfriend John Frederick Tanner before he was made bankrupt, Mr Tanner was ordered to pay the sum to the buyers as reimbursement in May last year.

In January, High Court judge, Mr Justice Sales, rejected a bid by Mr Tanner to introduce fresh evidence that purportedly showed the sketches were genuine.

And although Mr Tanner tried to appeal that decision, Lady Justice Arden ruled today that a reasonable litigant would have presented the evidence at the earlier county court hearing, and that there was no grounds for another hearing over whether the drawings are genuine.

She said: "The fault was on the side of the party seeking to adduce the evidence - in these circumstances I do not consider that there is any basis on which I could grant permission to appeal."

Evidence that Mr Tanner hoped to introduce to the hearing included a statement from Ambra Draghetti, a leading graphologist, who said: "I cannot but affirm that the signatures found in the Italian drawings are representative of Francis Bacon's handwriting, and therefore are authentic signatures."